1. Field of the Invention
Applicant's invention relates to products intended to provide desirable fragrances for home and personal use, as well as methods for effectively manufacturing such products.
2. Background Information
Products for emitting desirable fragrances, particularly for use in home environments, represents a hundreds of millions of dollars per year market in the United States alone. This does not take into account the perfume and cologne markets which are distinct from the product categories to which Applicant's invention relates.
It is common knowledge in the retail industry that the popularity of products such as potpourri, essential oils, sachets, scented candles, and similar scented items (herein collectively referred as "scented gift items") has markedly increased in recent years. As compared with other scented products for which a scent is merely incidental to the product's intended purpose and primary consumer appeal (scented toilet paper, soaps, furniture polishes, for example), scented gift items are purchased primarily for the scent which they provide.
Without question, a foul smelling potpourri will be a commercial failure, no matter what decorative trim or trappings are added. Conversely, scented gift items which provide a particularly attractive scent will likely succeed in the marketplace, particularly if they do so for a prolonged period of time.
It is this last characteristics--scent longevity (time over which the sachet emits a substantially unvarying scent potency)--to which Applicant's invention relates and which has represented a serious short-coming for most scented gift items thus far offered to the public. Anyone having used most of the presently available scented gift items knows that, when used in their intended environments, scent is substantially exhausted in a matter of a two or three weeks (at most).
In recognition of this problem, potpourri companies often sell "refresher oils" to add to existing potpourri products to rejuvenate their scents. Refresher oils are not, however, suitable for use in many environments, such as those in which sachets are used (one would not, for example, want to expose fine clothing and other items close to which sachets are often used to oily substances of any kind). Persons who have used sachets until now simply have to replace them frequently in order to continually enjoy their effects.
Applicants invention addresses these short-comings of presently available sachets.